On 13 October, Museum of London Docklands ‘Fashion City' opened, an exhibition which uncovers the major contribution of Jewish designers in making London an iconic fashion city. Staged as a literal walk through of the streets and shops in which they were residents, trainees, creatives and tailors, there is also a Central line tube tunnel linking East to West London. The visitor then arrives in the vibrancy of Carnaby Street’s glitzy boutiques and the bustling, celebrity endorsed tailors of the Swinging Sixties, when London was considered the fashion capital of the world.
We worked alongside the exhibition team and Skellon Studio's overall vision, to deliver Museum of London Dockland's multimedia, films and sound design in keeping with the context and street life experience. The media helps deliver the stories and details surrounding the people, trades and garments who made up this movement of people, and the boom in the London fashion industry.
Subtle soundscaping throughout the various sections of the galleries help settle the visitor’s mind into the times and places they move in. Discreet oral audio points and artistic layering of spoken accounts deliver personal and atmospheric snapshots into migration, settlement and growth.
We were honoured to film and edit the interviews of Dr Lucie Whitmore as she spoke with iconic designer David Sassoon and with those who recalled their close connections with the designer Netty Spiegel. The films were created to feel rich and stylish, yet personal, picking up on the flashes of emotion – the viewer connecting with how this fashion evolution felt to those who were directly involved.
Two other bold AVs bookend the Fashion City experience. One projected piece elegantly but objectively explores the context of Jewish migration to London, allowing the visitor to draw their own thoughts from the information displayed.
The second, in bold contrast, helps set the tone for the West End. Based on the notion of Piccadilly Circus and its bright advertising board patchwork, still and moving images appear and disappear, synched across four screens, in a splendour of ‘retro’ feeling graphic motions and overlays. The assets, carefully chosen by Museum of London in conjunction with AY-PE’s guidance, reflect the boom in London’s global fashion presence as people from Jimi Hendrix to Dr Who and Princess Margaret wear the iconic designs. As with Piccadilly Circus, visitors are both entertained and informed, with AY-PE intentionally designing a focal AV which both catapults the visitor into the exciting 60s era (and onwards), but also creates a centre piece to promote the diversity, quality and impact that the Jewish migration of talent into London had created.
As our Creative Director Richard Playford says:
To us, every audio-visual experience should have craft, thought and inspiration within it. No matter if we’re delighting audiences with the exciting bright lights of London celebrity, or moving them to inwardly contemplate the impact of migration, the starting point is the same. What’s your message, what’s the content and location and most importantly, where do you want us to take your audience. If we have those foundations nailed down, then our digital artistry can fly.
Reach out to discuss how our AV digital artistry can help achieve your vision, messages and goals: info@ay-pe.com